Out On the Ocean
by Spontaniously Insane
Summary: When the YYH gang get sent back into the golden age of pirates they meet up with a strange group of folks. Will Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke survive the rum, high seas, storms, sickness and all around utter mayhem before hand?
1. Wind and Rain

A/N: REVAMPED BEYOND ANYTHING YOU'VE EVER SEEN, PEOPLE. Seriously, this thing is being revamped SO HARD I'm wondering if I'm going to need power tools sooner or later. SO. MUCH. CRUD. I had to start on a clean slate because that was too dirty to be cleaned without Clorox Bleach or a power washer.

DISCLIAMER: I do not own YYH or anything to do with it. It would be funnier if I did. I do own those pirates, though. They're mine and if you steal, you get keelhauled, savvy? (And you can ask if you don't know what keelhauling means, savvy?)

_CHAPTER 1_

A rolling tempest threatened the standing power of the Spirit Detective team as they valiantly tried to reach the boating docks at the edge of the city. Even Hiei, who normally would be none the worst for wear, was having a bit of trouble fighting the raging winds. Yusuke was in the lead, swearing to everything and everyone he knew as the winds dared to whip his feet out from under him.

'_How did I get into this mess?'_ He thought, as a fierce gust almost sent him back into Kurama. _'Oh yea… now I remember!'_

_Yusuke woke to a violent tapping on his window. He grabbed the first thing within reach, in this case it was his poor, beaten alarm clock, and flung it at the window. The clock smashed into at least five pieces and gave one last, mocking sputter at his aggressor before giving up on life altogether. _

_That, however sad it was, did not stop the incessant tapping. Yusuke groaned out something that even his mother would wish he didn't know, and rolled over onto his stomach, stuffing his pillow around his ears. The tapping subsided after a moment, much to Yusuke's pleasure. It didn't last long, though._

_The window suddenly shattered, sending glass onto the floor, and startling Yusuke from any hope of sleep he had left. He scowled at the blue-haired 'grim reaper' that had just succeeded into breaking into his room. Yusuke looked for the time, but having smashed the clock already, he assumed it was late. _

"_Boton, what are you DOING in my ROOM?!" Yusuke asked, snarling at Boton. She did not look to be happy, either, and Yusuke's scowl faded slightly. _

"_Koenma sent me to get you. He has an urgent mission for you and the team and he wants you out there as soon as the day breaks, which is only a few hours or so away." She grumbled something under her breathe after saying this, mentally berating Koenma for waking her up at such an ungodly hour of the morning. "And he said it has something to do with purple portals and docks and I don't know how in the name of Lord Emma he thought I'd remember all of that. Get dressed, I'll meet you in the hall." And with that she departed. _

_Yusuke was dressed in his normal green jumpsuit in a minute and they departed quickly. By the time they reached Koenma's office, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara were already there. Not a soul in that room was happy abut being awake at such an hour. Kuwabara was still half asleep, leaning against the wall and trying not to snore. Kurama looked mostly awake, and was preoccupied with taming the raging bed-head his hair had taken on during the night. Hiei was against the wall with his eyes closed and no one save Kurama was brave enough to see if he was actually asleep or just being Hiei, but Kurama was currently occupying his time with something else and did not feel like bothering Hiei this morning._

_Koenma entered and sat behind his desk, beaming happily. Said smile vanished quickly as he caught the homicidal and/or sleeping faces of the team. He faked a nervous chuckle and straightened some papers on his desk, lacking the courage, and the words, to start them off on their case. He really didn't need them. _

_Yusuke strode forward quickly and slammed his fists on the desk, snarling. Koenma shrank back an inch out of reaction. _

"_WHY in HELL'S NAME are we HERE?" Apparently, Yusuke was not a morning person. _

"_Yes, I would LOVE to know that myself. Why couldn't this wait until morning?" Boton asked, as much venom in her voice as Yusuke. She wasn't a morning person, either. _

"_Or at least until we've had some breakfast. You can't expect us to go running around on empty." Kurama added. As if on cue, someone's stomach growled. _

"_I'll tell you if you get off my desk, Yusuke." Koenma asked though his teeth, changing into his older form as to match Yusuke's height. After a moment, Koenma won their silent stare down and Yusuke back off, still angry as all get-out._

"_This morning, at about one am, something was discovered on the docks just outside of town. It was described as a large, purple oval, with black and lavender swirls in its center. We believe it to be a portal leading to an unknown realm. We want you to investigate it. Find it, examine it, find it's source, and destroy it. But do not go into it. We don't know where it may lead." Koenma stopped, looking at the still sleepy but no longer homicidal faces of the team. "That is all. You are dismissed. Go get some breakfast and then head toward the east side docks as fast as you can." He stood, and left without further notice. Boton yawned._

"_Alright, you heard the man. Let's get you gotta here so I can get what's left of my beauty sleep."_

Yusuke snarled, remembering how Boton up and left as soon as they got back to their world. He was mentally yelling at Boton when Kurama derailed his thought train.

"Yusuke, it's up there, do you see it?" He pointed ahead of them, to a swirling oval of purple and black and lavender. That was it, all right.

"Let's get this thing over… with…?" Yusuke stopped beside the portal, confused. The winds were gone. He then walked in front of the portal and was almost swept away. He retreated to the calm edges of the portal, puzzled.

"The wind is coming from the portal. Damn." He finally said. He looked behind the portal, too, to check for any other source of the wind. It was dead still.

"Ok, so we have a wind generating portal here. Now how do we get rid of it?" Yusuke asked, looking under the docks for something that would generate a portal. Nothing. Nothing over head, either, or to either side. Nothing was generating the portal.

"I've read that for a non-human generated portal to vanish it must take in a certain amount of mass, depending on the length of travel, the size and the viscosity." Kurama said, mentally measuring the width and the length of the purple mass. He stopped to calculate, while Kuwabara was still catching up on what he had just said.

"Wait, what?" The red-head finally asked. Kurama sighed.

"To make the portal go away, we need to acquire around 500 pounds of mass to throw into it." Kurama said, rechecking his calculations once before nodding to himself once.

"500 POUNDS?" Yusuke asked, appalled. "How are we gonna get 500 POUNDS through a portal?" He wasn't incredibly happy. Kurama stopped and thought for a moment.

"Actually, on average, the four of us would equal 500 pounds." This prompted a rather well earned 'Hn' from Hiei.

"I'm not going through any portal." He said. Kurama smiled softly.

"I never said we would. But if we could attain four wanted demons with our heights and average body weight we could send them through, thus closing the portal and the wind." As he said this, the wind changed direction, blowing out the other side of the portal instead. The team gathered around the front, getting as close as they could without touching it. This turned out to be a very bad idea.

A cart rushed by, knocking them into the portal. They vanished quickly, and the portal followed moments after, letting out a mischievous pop.

Yusuke felt nothing, heard nothing, and saw nothing for a few moments, and then was suddenly thrust into cold, churning salt water. He struggled to the surface and caught a breath, before a runaway swell pushed him back down under the waves. He surfaced again, trying to see over the dark waves.

"HEY!" He called out, before being forced under again. He caught sight of Hiei drifting down to the bottom, and swam down to him. He helped the smaller demon to the surface, and managed to float there for a moment.

"HEY!" He called out again, over the rising swells and furious wind. He spotted Kurama's blood red hair among the waves and swam closer to him. He was gripping onto a float barrel. Yusuke handed over Hiei, who had regained some semblance of consciousness, and then tried to find Kuwabara. He appeared moments later and the foursome clung to the barrel for their lives as the swells tossed them up and around like rags. They held onto each other, so as not to loose someone in the violent storm.

It seemed like hours before the swells quieted. The sun was rising over the horizon, and Yusuke fell asleep on their little barrel, supported by Kuwabara.


	2. Sickness and Steal

A/N: Chapter 2! Finally we have some pirate action going on! Took all bloody day to write, too.

_CHAPTER 2_

"Poor blokes. Stuck in a 'urricane wit' nothin' but them's skins to save um!"

"Belay that talk, you cackle-fruit head. We don't want to be wakin' them up. They be needin' rest. Capt'n's orders."

Yusuke awoke to talking, most of which he didn't understand. He shifted his weight slightly, trying to move his shoulder out of the uncomfortable position it was in, and a sharp pain raced up his back. He winced audibly.

"Now look what you've done, you git! You've gone an' woken 'im up!" Yusuke groaned and opened his eyes, almost blinded by the sun. It was a moment before the world came into focus. A little red haired girl with a black bandana and a blonde girl with a yellow bandana were leaning over him and whispering. The red-head looked down at Yusuke and smiled in an almost motherly fashion.

"So you're awake then. Good. You took quite the beatin', lad, and we weren't too sure you was gonna make it." She extended a hand to help Yusuke sit up and he took the offer. Once he was up and his head had stopped spinning, he managed to get a look around. Hiei and Kurama were awake, and they were sharing a tattered blanket. Kuwabara was still unconscious, a blanket thrown over his shoulders. Yusuke had his own blanket, which he wrapped around himself. He was cold enough to be shaking.

After a moment, he stood, swaying, and managed to make his way over to Kurama without much difficulty. His friends were glad to see him.

"Thank goodness, you're alive, Yusuke. You weren't breathing for a while." Kurama said. Hiei nodded, looking away. His face looked red as his eyes. Yusuke nodded solemnly, wrapping his blanket closer around his form. He took the silence around him as an invite to look around. They were on a boat, made of black wood. He could see cloths and rope up above him, and he could see the blue ocean over the side. He didn't know wooden boats were coming back into style.

"Kurama, are wooden boats coming back into style now?" Yusuke asked him. Kurama shook his head no.

"Wooden ships like this were rendered obsolete a long time ago. After the age of pirates ended, such boats like this were a rarity to see floating about. I'm beginning to believe that that portal took us back to the age of pirates. And it seems we've been picked up by a navy ship of some sort, as a merchant vessel would be much bigger." Kurama said, looking up at the rigging. His eyes grew wider. "But I have been wrong before."

Yusuke and Hiei followed his gaze up, and what Yusuke saw made his hearts skip a beat. A black flag with a skull profile, two crossed swords and a heart was flapping away up above the cloth and ropes.

"What's so bad about a black flag?" Hiei asked. His question was not answered by Kurama but by the red-headed girl Yusuke saw earlier.

"So it seems you've figured out we're pirates, eh?" She said, her accent thick, yet still understandable. She was clad in a white shirt, a black vest, and black pants. She had no shoes and no socks.

"Don't soil yerselves, boys, we won't hurt ya. We might lock ya up in tha brig if ya so much as look at tha Capt'n wrong, but we won't hurt ya. And Madame, we are terribly sorry 'bout the lack of blankets. We may be able to find somfin' better if ya want." It took a minute for the three boys to realize she was addressing Kurama. Yusuke had to stifle his laughter on his sleeve, and Kurama turned the same shade as his hair.

"Excuse me, but I'm not a girl." Kurama said politely. The red-haired girl blinked her blue eyes once, staring at him.

"Really?" She asked, moving closer to look Kurama dead in the face. "I wos certain you was a girl. Actually, still am. Prove to me ya are a he and maybe I'll change me mind." She grinned, baring yellowed teeth. Suddenly, she was yanked back and thrown about a foot backwards, landing with a harsh thump.

"Emilie! Don't invade other's spaces. You know that. Do we have to drill it into your head every day?" The stern reprimand belonged to a third girl, this one with light blonde hair and gray eyes. She wore a purple dress and matching ribbon in her hair. She was taller than Hiei, but not taller than anyone else.

"Ana-Marie, tha red-head claims she's a he." Emilie stated quite bluntly, standing and brushing herself off. The blonde, Ana-Marie, looked over at Kurama, and then back to Emilie.

"Em, girls have boobs. Even flat-chested girls have more boobs than he does." To emphasize her point, she prodded Kurama in the chest once. If Kurama could turn any redder, he would have. Instead, Hiei stood up, discarding his half of the tattered blanket, and drew his sword. He shoved it in Ana-Marie's face, making her back off in her own defense.

"How dare you draw a sword on the unarmed, you bilge rat!" Emilie spat, drawing her own sword and pointing it at Hiei. Kurama threw the blanket over his head in embarrassment. Hiei stood his ground, shifting his sword to point at the shorter of the two.

"And how dare you make fun of my friend." Hiei spat back. Yusuke watched the exchange with wide eyes, and the last statement almost drew Kurama out from under his blanket.

"Kurama is more of a man than all of you tom-boy smart-asses put together so get over it and leave him alone!" Hiei thrust his sword forward and metal clashed with metal. The clash drew the rest of the small crew around the pair, who were chatting and whispering and making bets on who would win such a fight.

"Alright, you landlubber, I accept your challenge. One sword duel, to the death if it gets that far." Emilie grinned, pulling her sword back for a strike. Suddenly, the chatter was dead silent. Emilie dropped her sword and stood stock still. A shadow fell over the group. Yusuke felt a shiver run down his spine, and he felt Kurama involuntarily scoot closer.

"For the love of Calypso, can anyone tell me why there's a bloody cult forming…" A figure muscled through the crowd, and stopped mid-sentence. Her dark blue eyes caught the glint of Hiei putting away his sword, and her face turned to a dark scowl.

"Emilie, what is this?" She asked softly. Emilie shrank back slightly, and took to staring at her feet rather than meeting the older girl's eyes.

"Nofin'… Capt'n…" Emilie muttered. The captain stepped past the rest of the group and towered over Emilie and Hiei. She was the most elaborately dressed of the group, with several layers of clothing, the top of which was a red jacket. She had a red headband around her head, with sideburn like strands of chocolate brown hair falling by her ears. The rest of her hair was tied back in a tight wrap behind her head. She had no shoes and no socks, and black pants covered her legs.

"And what does 'nofin' have to do with swords?" The captain asked, picking up Emilie' s fallen sword.

"H-He challenged me and I only drew it in defense of meself Capt'n I didn't mean to start no fight honest please don't keelhaul me for the love of Davy Jones please don't!" Emilie managed to get all of that in on one breathe, she was so terrified. The Captain's attention turned to Hiei.

"Is she tellin' the truth? Did you start the fight or did she?" Her voice was steady, yet it was still venomous. Hiei stood up to her, and at his full height he didn't have to look up too much to meet her eyes.

"She insulted my friend. I would not stand for it. And if you even dare touch him I'll kill you." Hiei spat. The Captain frowned, almost mockingly.

"That settles it then. Ladies, to the brig with both of them. I'll deal with their punishments later." The captain watched as Emilie was lead to below deck without a word, and then as they came after Hiei. He fought back, slicing at the girls trying to grab him, until one managed to grab his sword arm. She wrenched the sword free and pinned the arm behind Hiei's back, using that to lead him below deck.

"Damn little bugger almost got me." The captain commented lightly, before turning to Yusuke. "And we have other passengers. Why does no one tell me these things?" She asked herself, before addressing the Detective.

"Ahoy, and welcome aboard, mate. I be Captain Kat Sparrow, savvy? You get to take orders from me now." She smiled. "And your name is…?"

"I'm Yusuke." Yusuke said. "These are my friends – Kuwabara is the sleeping one, Hiei is the one you just took away, and beside me is Kurama." He gestured to each in turn, before turning to Kurama. The redhead was still under his blanket, even though everything was over. The captain noticed and sat down next to the red-haired boy.

"Oi, lad, you alright there?" She asked him, delicately trying to pry the blanket from around his face. "Common, tell Ol' Captain Kat what's ailin' ya." She was met with a muffled response. Kat chuckled to herself lightly, trying once more to pry the blanket from Kurama's head.

"You're going to have to remove that blanket, lad, or I won't be able to hear you." Reluctantly, Kurama removed the blanket from his face. He had slight bags under his eyes and his face was pale. He looked week, almost fragile.

"I'm not sure. My chest has been hurting ever since the hurricane, but it's started to grow worse. I can taste blood in my mouth but I don't remember doing any serious damage to it during the storm, and all of a sudden I felt like I could sleep forever." He said softly, his voice horse and ringing with a frightened tone. Kat's face went from a worried face to one of pure dread.

"You haven't had much in tha way of citrus lately, have ya?" Kat asked solemnly.

"Not since before we got here. Normally I have orange juice with breakfast every morning but before we left I forgot about it in our haste." Kurama managed, before turning around and spitting a glob of blood into the now churning sea.

"Well, that's it then. One more question, lad. Do you think you can walk?" Kat asked, placing a hand behind Kurama's back lightly. Kurama shook his head no, leaning heavily into the Captain's arm.

"Well bugger that idea, then." Captain Kat thought for a moment, before turning to Yusuke.

"The sleeping one, over there, do you think you can move him?" She asked. Yusuke nodded slightly, unsure of what would happen next. "Good. I'm going to go get Ana-Marie and get you a room. Stay here." And with that she ran off. Yusuke leaned over and put his arm around Kurama, letting the red-haired teen rest his head on Yusuke's shoulder.

"Kurama, do you have any idea of what you have?" The raven-haired teen questioned after a moment of silence.

"I do, Yusuke, but I'm hoping I'm wrong."


End file.
